the Hollow Conspiracy
by Corrupted Champion
Summary: Following the Death of three FBI agents, the team soon find themselves unraveling a larger mystery than they could have possibly imagined; along with the trouble of finding the killer they must also work with a burned FBI agent they do not trust, who in turn returns the feeling. Can they find the people responsible.
1. Welcome to Miami

**Chapter one: Welcome to Miami **

**Quantico, Virginia **

Emily Prentiss was standing in the elevator as she waited to reach her floor, coming into the office late, her alarm clock battery dying being the cause and staying up late through the night before, the same night she had every other night of loneliness in her apartment with her cat.

It was actually the call from her best friend, and co-worker J.J. that woke her from the deep sleep she was in and caused her to rush down to the office as best she could.

As she came to the office where she and the team normally worked, she could already see J.J. and Spencer Reid packing up for the plane where J.J. immediately took notice to her and Emily asks "J.J, what's happening?"

J.J. herself seemed to be at a loss for an explanation herself as she answered the question "Not sure, Hotch just said that there were three FBI agents who were killed in Miami so we're going down to meet the only surviving agent on the case."

"Miami?" Emily asked in a complete moment of confusion that soon turned into glee as she was remembering that it was warm in Miami and seeing as how they were now barely out of December and still freezing, she would be glad to have a change of condition with some fresh warm air.

It was definitely one of the few times she would be glad to be late for work.

As she was collecting the few things from her desk that she would need, Reid took the time to give her one of the files and says "They left a copy for you to read."

Emily puts the files under her arm as she follows behind to the plane, taking a seat across from J.J. as they wait for the plane to take off. As she waited for the take off she opened the first file, three FBI agents from a Major Crimes Task Force were all killed with gunshot wounds that either killed them with a shot to the chest or one that grazed them on the arm.

What was strangest to read was that the bullets that killed the agents were all laced with a poison called Curare. The killer developed their own insurance that if the shot did not kill them than the poison would finish the job for them.

As Emily was reading the file on the three dead FBI agents, Steve Mercer, Chloe Bishop, Oliver Kenway; she soon began to realize she recognized the names as agents she had previously worked with before ten years ago in the Middle East when they were pursuing a terrorist group called the Archangels. Among the FBI team she had a friend, but when she checked for his name he was absent.

"Something wrong Emily?" J.J. asked, noticing her friend's confusion. Emily looks over to J.J, realizing that she was putting off a facial expression that gave concern and says "It's nothing J.J. I was just…I thought I recognized these names and I was hoping a friend of mine was the one we we're going to meet."

"Does this friend work with Major Crimes?" J.J. asked, then Emily replied "When I last saw him he was, an agent named Sean Pierce had been working with them for about a year or two when I last saw him."

J.J. seemed to recognize the name, showing by the way her eyes and facial expression reacted to the name and she says "There is a Sean Pierce in Miami, but he's not who we're going to see. He's one of the suspects."

"He's a suspect?" Emily asked and J.J. replies in confirmation "Yeah, the FBI team was following a lead that a terrorist group they were chasing was in Miami working with a local crime boss that Pierce works for. So far they had no evidence of any connection to the two until a couple of days ago, when all but one member of the team was killed."

The file gave no hint to the name of the terrorist group and asks "This group they were after, who are they? There's no name listed here on file."

"Some group the Team had been tracking for about ten years now. No name, just some kind of militia group that works in anti-government business. Though there were a few reports that Peirce made, he referred to them as a Suicide Squad."

"Are you serious?" Emily said, before she laughed at this, the name Pierce gave them sounded like something out of an old DC comic book or off of Smallville. It was the kind of thing she could expect of him, back when they were in the FBI academy she often could find him reading DC comics.

J.J. herself almost laugh saying "Garcia had the same reaction when she told us this. Apparently this group they were after all used similar methods that of DC comic villains use and they were never given a proper name so this bunch he nicknamed the Suicide Squad. Any other file or record of them is gone; when the shooter killed the FBI team he took the only existing files with him."

"So why would this militia be in Miami, don't they usually work through the mid west, like Texas and California? And how can there be no existing records in the database on them?"

"That's the interesting thing; this group the Task Force was tracking would perform certain killings or events in various parts of the country and rarely in the world before disappearing for long amount of time so there was barely any evidence on them to go on…this could be one of them."

"There is some good news though." Reid said from his seat as the plane was prepping for takeoff, being aware with the rest of the team of the conversation. Emily looks over to the young genius and asks "Oh yeah, and what would that be Reid?"

"Oliver Kenway and Sean Pierce remained in close contact with one another after he was removed from the Task Force, their Section chief even mentioned that he may have a copy of the files they had. He even suggested that any new details of evidence they collected, Kenway copied down on paper and reports then sent it to Pierce."

Emily could tell that Hotchner, Rossi and Derek were doing their best to avoid the conversation, going through the files they had on them and J.J. looks over to them before asking "Hey Derek you Rossi and Hotchner want to share your thoughts with the rest of the class?"

Hotchner knew more than he was letting on, but Derek was in more of a talkative mood than Rossi was "The only thing that I know for sure is that this Pierce guy knows what we need to know and an agent on the scene is waiting for us."

Emily lies back in her seat as the plane takes off saying sarcastically "Great, I get to see Sean again after a long time and odds are I'm going to have to arrest my friend; Great just great."

**Miami, Florida early morning **

Sean Hollow, formerly Sean Pierce, was preparing for work in the early morning, fitting on his Denim jacket as he was leaving.

He had heard the news over the TV, three FBI agents killed by a shooter; among those who were killed he was devastated to hear it was his childhood-friend Oliver was one of them, but life must go on. He imagined that Mr. Diamond would be expecting him in the same time today as he would be any other day.

From the desk by his TV he looks at his two weapons a Taurus PT92AFS and Para-Ordnance 1911, taking one for the day.

On the corner of his TV he had a brief glimpse of a photo that was taken of him and Oliver; it took a lot of strength to hold back the sadness as he put the picture away as he said "Goodbye Ollie." Then he left concealing his Taurus as he walked out the door of his home.

**Later That Day**

The Team arrived to the Miami police station as quickly as possible after their plane dropped off at the air port. The fresh air was warming and inviting, a complete opposite to the cold and chilling air back home in Virginia.

Alex Blake was the name of the FBI agent from the Major Crimes Task Force they came to see, her arm was being held up by a bandage; the wound she had was in her shoulder, the gunshot wound she received had the least amount of curare in it so she just barely survived the shooting.

As Alex was introduced to the team members it was clear that Reid, Rossi and Hotchner had some previous encounters with her in the past. Derek was more interested in the pictures they had on the nearby board.

He looks at the pictures asking "Who are all these people?" his attention being on two pictures of Sean Pierce and another man along with various other pictures.

Alex points to two of the men in the photo's as she begins to name them "This is John Diamond, he and his brother's run a few of the night clubs here in Miami until they were killed in a drive by shooting so not he's on his own. He also has been tied to a few of the local unsolved murders but no one could prove it so he's remained clean. These are his lieutenants Sibson and Vega; they on the other hand have been arrested for a few minor crimes, but the murder's slide. And lastly we have Sean Pierce."

Emily had her attention put into more focus after hearing Sean's name. Emily wanted to know why he was a suspect, but feared that her past friendship with him could have her taken off the case. J.J. instead asked the question that she was dying to know "Why is Pierce a suspect?"

Blake did not hesitate to answer the question, although some of the officers were giving the team an unfriendly look as she did "I had the same question for the police when we arrived. Pierce was not originally of any significance to the police when he arrived five years ago; a former FBI agent turned private investigator that Diamond made one of his security consultants. Then two years ago he began taking trips out of town to California, next thing the police know Diamond is armed with more hired muscle and fire power. Then two days before Oliver and the rest of the team were killed we received a call from Pierce saying that the killer he named Deadshot, was in town."

"How would Pierce even know what he looks like? No one has ever been able to get a good look at him in the Ten years he's been around." Rossi asked, showing some level of knowledge to the subject of the hunt, and Blake replies "Pierce has, out of all the agents to be in the Task Force he is the only one to ever get a glimpse of this sniper."

Hotchner was still quiet on the matter, he was withholding something. "Have you considered the possibility that Pierce did this?" he said bluntly, not holding anything back as to the questioning of Peirce's innocence. Alex was just as surprised to hear him asks this as Emily was.

Emily knew what kind of person Sean was, she knew him long enough to know that he would never kill Oliver and Chloe. Those two were like family to him, and he especially would never kill another FBI agent.

The expression that formed on Alex's face showed that she was thinking the same thing, showing that she had a different story to tell as she said "That's not possible, the night Kenway, Bishop, and Mercer were killed a camera caught Pierce coming home five blocks away. Besides that he also does not have any rifles, he has pistols, but no rifles."

Derek took a look at some of the crime scene photos from the crime scene where the dead agents were found. The origin of the shot was found to be from a building a mile away from the location along with various wrappers to snacks that suggested that the shooter was waiting for them when they arrived; whoever they were dealing with is methodical and calculating.

"What does Pierce do for Diamond? Aside from his security consultant work does he have any other job? Is Diamond aware that he used to be an FBI agent?" he asked.

The idea that an FBI agent would just turn on his own kind to work for a criminal did not make sense to him. The file on Pierce described him as reckless and insubordinate, but also with a burning hatred of criminals like Diamond, so the real question in his mind was why?

"Diamond has displayed some trust in Peirce, he's escorted him to various deals he's made, they both have been on various business trips to California and other states as well as foreign countries; I doubt anyone here knows he's an ex-FED. He's been living under the alias of Sean Hollow."

"Hollow?" Emily asked, recognizing the last name; causing Alex to look back as Derek asks "Do you recognize the name Prentiss?"

"Yes, um, a couple years back when I was in the Middle East he's working an undercover assignment for the task force. The alias he was under was the same, but I could have sworn after that they faked his death."

Alex watched as the two talked and cuts in at the end and asks "Was he posing as a mercenary?"

"Yes," Emily said, curious as to how she could possibly know that. Alex quickly follows up by saying "When Pierce arrive in Miami the police pulled up the name he gave them and by accident his alias popped up without giving any red flags, Diamond found every commendation on his resume to be what he was looking for."

Emily saw a recent photo of Sean as Alex was talking, he face looked no different to her, but in the picture he looked sadder then when she last saw him. As Alex finished talking she asks "Where would he be right now?"

Alex took a moment to answer the question, hesitant to do so. Since she arrived she witnessed the police interrogate Pierce and knew that he would not talk to them; she was under the assumption that they were wanting to do the same as the police and says "Why? The police have interrogated him ten times since my team came to Miami, he won't tell us anything."

"I just want to talk to him." Emily replies back. Alex then recalled how she remembered reading that Sean and Emily graduated into the FBI in the same year and were friends, and then suddenly she realized that maybe if he would not talk to herself or any of the police then maybe Prentiss could.

Finally she answers the original question "By now he would probably off work by now and at the Neon."

* * *

**AN: Okay, finally done. I was planning on making this first arc to the story all on here, but decided to cut it up. **

**Also this story is set in an alternate storyline in which Emily never left the BAU.**


	2. Agent Sean Pierce

**Chapter Two: Agent Sean Pierce **

**The Neon, Miami **

Emily and the rest of the team were taken by Alex to the Neon, a night club Diamond set upindown town was loud music playing and dancing all around, like you would find in any other club in America.

The music that was playing in the club was dark metal and rock, such as Falling In The black by Skillet, and Far From Home by Five Finger Death Punch.

Emily watched as some of the younger patrons of the establishment walked in, she could almost see a mirage of a younger Sean among them. To say she was excited to see him again would not be a stretch of description to her feelings, but she could also feel a fair amount of stress from the anxiety.

Alex was talking with Hotchner and Rossi at another table while still remaining in radio contact with Emily, Derek, J.J., and Reid who were sharing one table. Emily was put next to J.J. while Derek and Reid were next to one another on the other side of the table.

As the others talked to one another Emily could hear a few mentions of Sean in the conversations, not bothering to interrupt them as she wanted to hear for things to ask him about later.

Morgan mentioning how Gideon once told him about Pierce, calling him a hero,

"Gideon mentioned a man like him once, he brought down killers, rapists, terrorists; the whole thing. He talked about him like he was a glorified hero." Morgan he said. He sounded almost envious of him.

Reid had no stories of personnel experience to tell of, only what he had read on the reports made by him and the psychology reports made on him by the FBI psychologist. "A lot of personnel problems though, anger issues, fear of abandonment, and difficulty maintaining healthy relationships. He's like some of the UNSUB's we hunt, only with empathy."

"That's true." Morgan said, taking notice to how Emily was avoiding the conversation. Then remembers how he heard Emily, who was absent from the conversation, mentioned she had been friends with the suspect in the past and asks "So Emily, how good friends were you with him?"

"Huh," Emily said, her focus having transferred away from the conversation. She then looks over to them and asks "I'm sorry, did you say something Derek?"

Derek rephrases the question, asking "Were you friend with Pierce?"

"Yes." She replied, unsure where he was going with this.

Morgan then says "Well you seem to be absent from the conversation."

Emily did not respond to the last comment, her mind buzzing with different thought. She could only imagine what was going to happen when they found him, the thought of taking him down was not something she relished, and then her mind came to whether she really believed he was innocent. She knew him in the past, but that was ten years ago and people change, that did not mean she had her doubts about him. But still she had no guarantee that he was innocent, only her trust in him.

"Are you okay Emily?" J.J. asked. Emily remained quiet at first, nervous to talk about it, but finally she begins to speak up, assuring her friends that she is okay "I'm fine, it's just this whole thing with Sean is unbelievable."

"How close were the two of you?" J.J. asked.

Emily leaned back in her chair, thinking back through her memory as she stared at her drink. She could remember all the good time she had working with Sean, the voice of reason in her mind was telling her that she did not believe he was guilty, but the thought of how the others would react to meeting him terrified her as well as to what the others would think of her.

Then she remembered this was her team, the people that she trusts as if they were her own family, and she says "We met at the FBI academy years ago, he was probably the most out of place guy I met there. In about a month we were best friends there, after that I never saw him again till ten years ago, after that he just disappeared."

The three team members were ready to ask her a hundred different questions about him when they all soon heard Alex's voice from their ear pieces "Heads up, Pierce is coming in from the side entrance."

Emily and the others looked towards the side entrance as they began to see him walk in. Sean was among the small crowd to enter the Neon night club, he was at Emily's age, medium built with short-cut dark blond hair and grey eyes; wearing a black denim jacket over his black shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

She watched as he took a seat at the nearby bar stool, making conversation with the female bartender as she poured him his drink. She could tell they knew one another fairly well, though she doubted they were together, the woman did not look like his type.

"So that's him Emily?" Derek asked, watching as she looked on at him. There was a look in her eye as she stared at him; then and there they knew she recognized him as someone she knew. Soon Emily replies "Yeah that's Sean."

"Who is he talking to over there?" J.J. asked, and then Spencer says with his own answer "Maybe it's a girlfriend."

"I doubt it, she doesn't look like his type, plus she's too young." Emily said. J.J. looked over to her, smiling in a mocking manner, and she asks "And what would his type be?"

"I don't know." Emily replied defensively, she could hear the tease in her voice. Then they both hear Rossi through their ear pieces "What are the odds he'd tell one of us if he knows anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're his friend, maybe you could ask him to tell us what he knows about the murders and maybe to hand over the files he has on the killer." Rossi said, not sounding too suggestive as to what he believed Emily could do.

Emily could tell though by the conversation that they all were under the impression he was her ex-boyfriend. She was starting to regret telling them about him.

"Why don't we just send Blake to talk to him, they've probably met before. All she has to do is tell him that she worked with Oliver and he'll cooperate." She said, wanting to avoid the conversation with Pierce right now. She did want to speak with him after so long, but she did not want to use him to get evidence.

Soon Blake replied from her end "He won't. We met once or twice and he doesn't trust me."

Emily huffed under her breath in frustration as she could see no other way around this happening and says as she starts to get up from her seat "Fine, but I'm telling you this is a bad idea."

She slowly starts to walk away from the table where her teammates were and making her way over to the bar stool, trying to think of how to speak to him. She could feel her heart beat as she came closer to him, unaware as he was starting to see a reflection of her from his glass. Then suddenly he turns around, facing her in shock as he says "Emily, Emily Prentiss?"

As Sean was looking at Emily, the restrained happy grin on his face started to fade for a moment as he caught a glimpse at team members before they sheltered their faces from him. Soon his gaze retuned to Emily before saying "What's it been eight, nine, ten years now?"

The tone in Sean's voice not cynical or rude as Emily understood it; she could tell though that he knew something was up. As Emily took a seat next to him Sean resumed his previous position as he took hold of his drink. Then he asks "What are you doing here?"

Emily asks her own question in response, hoping to start up a conversation away from his suspicions "I could ask you the same thing? I figured you'd be in Los Angeles or New Orleans."

"Well first of all I've come to deeply resent Los Angeles, that place has been in one too many TV shows; so over rated, and two I would not set foot in New Orleans again if you paid. I hate that place more than words can describe. Besides Miami's not so bad."

"Name one thing about it you like?"

"I like the beach, lots of sun shine."

"Yeah, and I'm sure all the pretty girls in bikini's have nothing to do with it."

"Well seeing as how you're not wearing one I guess it doesn't."

Emily laughed for a second, seeing that he still had a fair amount of interest in her. There was still a part of him though that seemed dead. The half that made up her friend was replaced with despondency and quietness.

Soon he asks a totally different question from the conversation "So what is it you want Raven."

"What makes you think I want anything? For all you know I could be here on vacation." Emily said in an attempt to save the cover that she had just bumped into him here, but he did not buy it for a second. She could hear it in his voice as he gave back another response "Well let me think…there's the stooges at the tables behind me, the fact that I know the BAU was called in to help investigate Oliver and Chloe's murder and there was something else….what was it…oh yeah, I have had FBI and police tailing me all day so I know for a fact that you people have been waiting here for me so you can get a file I have on the man you believe is responsible for the murders."

Taking another drink of his whisky Sean was silent for a second, remaining silent afterwards. To see him now in such a sorry state almost broke Emily's heart, she has seen him in a low place once before when he was younger, but this was much worse. His recession to the despondent man before her she could barely recognize as her old friend.

"What happened to you Sean?" She asked, watching as he swallows down another shot. He was still despondent, almost unaware of her presence or her question before finally facing her after ten seconds of silence and finally breaks the quietness "Apparently I have problems with authority. After you last saw me I was doing another assignment with this guy in the BAU…what was his name…Hatcher, Hitcher….Hotchner, that's it Hotchner. I was working with him for a few days on a case related to the Archangels and the next thing I know I wind up being accused treason, and then I disappear for two months and ten days before finally being found with no memory of what happened. That was ten years ago."

Swallowing down his final drink of whisky Sean gave his money to the bartender as Emily asked "Wait, the reason you are no longer an FBI agent is because you were accused by the BAU?"

"Yeah, I didn't call in a few times I was supposed to."

Having had enough of the conversation Sean gets up from his seat and says "Well this is been fun Raven, but I think I'll be heading home for some shut eye."

Emily stops his as he starts to leave, grabbing him by the shoulder and asks "Sean what do you know about Oliver's murder? Why was he killed?"

Sean waited back, looking at his old friend and replies "I have the files on the man you're looking for. They call him Deadshot, or at least I and Oliver did, but his real name is Clay Keller. I'll bring the files to you people in the morning, but no following me…god that always creeps me out when they have someone follows me."

"What's the matter Sean, not a big fan of admirers?" Emily said, teasing him before he replies "Depends on the admirer." Then he leaves disappearing in the distance. Emily suddenly remembering what he said about Hotchner Presses on her ear piece and says "Hotch we need to talk."

**Meanwhile outside**

Sean was nearing his home after leaving the Neon. As he was walking he could feel as if someone was watching him from a distance, but he could never see them as he looked back. In the ten years following the moment he first left the FBI Major Crimes Task Force he had developed a almost sixth sense to where he could almost feel the Goosebumps running up when he had these feelings, that and the healthy dose of paranoia.

The feeling never seemed to stop as he reached his home. He felt some relief as he was near the front door, but suddenly he could feel a slight pinch in the side of his neck like someone gave him a shot from a doctor's office.

Touching the spot where he could feel the pinch he pulled a small needle dart out of his skin. He looks to the direction it came from, his vision going blurry and fumbles back as he starts to see a man walking up to him holding a dart gun.

He could see the man walking towards him was wearing a demon mask and so he tries to pull out is Taurus and fire it, but by this point his hands were like most of arm were now, numb to any commands he gave them. Then masked man to advantage of the situation removed the gun from his hand before saying as Sean passed out "Not so fast Mr. Hollow, I have some questions for you, and when you wake up you will answer them."

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry it took so long to update on this story. Since I started a new college semester I've needed to focus more on my work. I hope this chapter is to your liking and that I've finished this chapter to your like. **


	3. The Three Demons

**Chapter Three: The Three Demons**

**Unknown Location, 2003**

A thirty-three-year-old Sean woke up in the dank and dark recesses of an old basement. For the past days he and his Task Force have been working with the CIA while looking into an anti-government militia group called the Archangels, responsible for various assassinations and bombings back home in America. His body was sitting up in a chair with restraints holding his arm behind him as he struggled to move, he could practically feel them digging into his skin as he did.

The only thought that overcame his desire to know where he was now was his eagerness to beat the crap out of whomever it was that blew his cover and nearly got him killed today.

Soon after he was hearing a noise coming from outside a door, it soon opens before three men walk inside the room. Two of the men Sean did not recognize, one was a boulder of a man in military jungle gear and the other a medium built man, he could see their dog tags though, the medium built one was named Wilson and the boulder man was named Wintergreen. The third man in the room he did recognize as Caleb Fyers, a well known member of the Archangels.

Caleb was standing still in the room; dropping various identification papers that belonged to the CIA agents Sean had been working with in the field while undercover. Then he says "What was it you said your name was, James Hollow? Funny cause when a friend of mine State-side told me that an FBI agent and various CIA agents integrated themselves into my small army of Mercenaries I was flabbergasted when he gave me a photo of every one of them. And it says here that your name is Sean Pierce."

Sean was quiet, not bothering to respond to the statement.

"Then when I was going through the belongings of you and these agents I found that most of them were not being monitored by a handler so when they don't report in it will take a few days before anyone notices anything is wrong, but the only real concern we still have left is the fact that of the FBI agent who has a team waiting for him to report in, so I just need to know…..what is your callsign?"

This time Sean had a response in the form of sarcasm in an attempt to give the impression he was clueless to an answer he obviously knew "Sorry, what's a callsign?"

Caleb sighs in disappointment and says "Okay, if you're going to be that way I guess I have no choice but to play hardball." Then he looks to his men and says "Wintergreen bring in the other agent you caught today."

The man he called Wintergreen, he left the room seconds later. Sean could feel his heart beat race as he grew more and more nervous in the situation. He had heard rumors of how the Archangels tortured their prisoners for day to get the information they need, leaving only a hollow shell of the person behind.

Seconds later Wintergreen returned to the room, Sean was horrified when he saw the man place John Banks, one of the agents he was working with in the field, on his knees in front of him. John looked like hell, his face having the bruises as proof of enduring a previous torture at the hands of Fyers's men.

"Now I'm not a violent man Mr. Pierce, but I do believe in doing what is necessary for the good of my cause, so if you do not tell me what I wish to know then I will be forced to resort to more drastic measures and kill Mr. Banks here to prove a point." Fyers said, pointing a gun to John's head, and then he goes on to say "I'm going to count to ten and if you have not told me your call sign by that point I will kill him."

"Don't tell him Pierce, these men are liars and murders, once they know what you know they'll torture you for what little information you have left before they kill you." John said; the soreness in his voice was clear as he forced himself to speak.

"One," Fyers said, pulling down on the hammer of his gun as he begins the countdown.

With every number John would tell him to say nothing, it had no effect though as they neared the ten. Fyers then readies his gun to kill John before Sean finally breaks down "Okay, okay. It's Charon, my call sign is Charon."

"See Mr. Pierce, better to cooperate. Wintergreen take the prisoner." Fyers said and then Wintergreen draws a 1911 pistol and fired a single shot at John in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Sean was terrified as he looked at the body of the man that was once his friend. He then looks to Wintergreen as he says to him "Fyers said he wouldn't kill your friend, he didn't say anything about me not killing him."

Sean became enraged and says "You bastard, I'm going to make you pay for that."

Fyers berated his subordinate for one moment then said to the one called Wilson who seemed disturbed by the gruesome event "Wilson, take our friend here to the count. I'm sure he has something to make him feel better."

**Miami, 2013**

Emily was not one to get mad easily, especially with her fellow team members, but to hear that Hotchner was withholding information on their only suspect and her friend nun-the-less, but the very idea that he did something to harm her friend made her even more furious.

He even had the audacity to say that Sean maybe the killer.

Hotchner was quiet for the most part as he took the team outside of the club as she demanded to know what it was that had happened to Sean and what his involvement was in how it happened. He remained quiet for the duration of the walk before finally Alex starts to talk, asking "You didn't tell them?"

Finally Hotchner replied to one question "I was hoping to avoid it, that and it is irrelevant to the case at hand."

"But you have a personal history with Sean, and the whole time we've been working on this you have been more quiet than usual, like your hiding something. Hotch if you know something that could be important then you should tell us now before he comes in tomorrow and we find out from him." Derek said, noticing how Hotchner was more than just a little reluctant to talk about it.

Finally Hotchner stops in his tracks and says "I was asked to assist to help the Major crimes Task Force with a case in 2003, while I was doing this I started to notices anomalies in the funds these agents were using in the field. Soon it became apparent that there was a mole in the team, and the only one we were never able to account for in three instances of this was Pierce, he would disappear before money would start to disappear and the Archangels started to make moves around our people. We never accused him of anything until the agents he was working with in the field started to disappear and the decision was made to arrest him until we could find more proof, but when we did he was captured."

Emily was still a little irritated at Hotchner as he was part of the reason Sean was fired, he may or may not have been the reason he was fired, but he definitely caused it. For an FBI agent to be accused of corruption is bad whether it is true or not, their reputation and creditability can be ruined and can ruin their career.

Hotchner could tell that Emily was appalled by this whole story. Soon it was clear that the other members of the team were shocked by the story, but not as much as Emily and decides to cut the conversation short "For now just turn in for the night, if Pierce comes with the files in the morning then he's free and clear."

"And if he doesn't?" Emily asked, slightly annoyed; and Hotchner replies "Then he'll be brought in by the police."

Then he leaves, leaving Emily still angry with him and the other team members at a loss for words.

**Abandoned Building, Miami **

Sean woke up after passing out from the dart he took to the neck. It was more than likely a type of sedative that was only last for a little while because he still had a massive headache left over from the injection. As he was starting to come to he became instantly aware of the man, who shot him with the dart earlier, was pacing around in the room they were in as he admired the Para-Ordnance 1911 he confiscated from Sean's house.

"Looks like he's waking up Gregory," Sean heard a new voice say. It was then that he noticed there were two more masked men in the room, leaving him in the hands of not one, but three gun men, one armed with a MP5 sub-machine gun.

The masked man called Gregory looks over to Sean as he lowered the weapon to his side and away from its examination before putting it down. He looks over to Sean and says "Mr. Pierce." pulling out a brass knuckle that he then fitted on his hand. Sean did not respond to the words at first, and then the man repeats his words and asks "What did you do with the Files that FBI agent gave you, the one on the Archangel case?"

Sean looks around before saying "Well I'll be, the three goddamn demons." Then the man punches him in the ribs and says "I ask a question, you give me the answers. Now what did you do with the file Agent Kenway gave you when he arrived in Miami."

Sean then made an attempt to move his hands, feeling the restraints that held his hands back as he was still not giving an answer to the question. Not that he had one they would like, Oliver never gave him any file, and he especially never gave him one on the Archangels. He was pretty sure on one thing though; that once they figured out he knew nothing they would kill him in an instant, the three never being know to leave loose ends.

Gregory looks back to the one holding the bigger weapon, throwing his hands out in annoyance and confusion before turning around back to Sean and punching him once again in the side, breaking one of his ribs. He then says to Sean "Did he tell you anything, something other than that file or was that it?"

Sean looks up at the men, angry by the beating and said "Yeah, he did tell me something."

"What did he tell you Mr. Pierce?" Gregory asked, and Sean replies "To kill you."

Gregory and his colleagues chuckled, gesturing to one of them to hand him the weapon he put down and says "You're delusional old man, you're zipped cuffed to that chair."

Gregory then took the weapon and says "Well if you're not going to tell me anything useful, I might as well kill you." Before aiming the weapon at Sean's head, Sean was not afraid though; he had nothing to lose from dying. Gregory pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, he tried pulling on the trigger again and still nothing happened.

Sean began to chuckle as he said "You young punks, always thinking your all that. Remember how you said I was zipped cuffed to this chair?" before bringing his arms forward, revealing that he had already freed his hands from the restraints and with a smirk says "Not anymore."

Gregory in a panic took a swing at him, but Sean ducked as he took hold of the chairs legs and uses to block a second punch and then hits one back before breaking a piece off and stabbing one in the chest. As the man holding the MP5 took aim with his weapon Sean used the second still living man, putting one arm around his neck, as a human shield until he heard the clicks of the weapon.

Soon the gunmen took off as Sean dropped the body of his shield and retrieved his 1911, he smirked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the guns missing firing pin and inserts it back into place. The pin was something he never left in the gun unless he had it on him, for situations such as this it was a good call.

He was strong; he had suffered many forms of pain in the past, but even he had his limits. Three of his ribs were broken from the punches he received from Gregory and his aim and dependence on killing the third demon with a single shot was something he desperately needed.

He slowly moves through the dark rooms of the building as he searches for the man.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." He said in an attempt to goad the man into showing himself to no avail. Though Sean could not see the man he could still hear his boots as they touched on the ground as the man walked slowly to hide his movements.

"Who hired you to kidnap me?" Sean said, still not getting a response at first, but then hears a man's voice say "No one you'd know."

Sean had grown impatient with the cloak and dagger and said "If you think you scare me then dream on, I've got nothing left to prove and nothing to lose. I'm the last person on earth you want to piss off right now. So come out now and we can both walk out of here with our lives."

"Or I could just blow your head off and walk out on my own." The man said in defiance.

Soon however the silence was broken as he heard the squeak of a shoe as the man came out from hiding to fire his weapon, he was fast, but Sean was just a little bit faster than he was. His weapon was raised up about second before the other one and he fired a shot into the man's shoulder, causing him to lose his weapon then he fires a second shot; and a third, and a forth, and a fifth, but the second one piercing the man's skull and killing him instantly was the kill shot.

Sean was still for a second after shooting the man, taking in the deep breathing as he slowly walked past the body, checking to make sure he was dead before saying "Why can't they ever walk away."

Then he slowly walked out of the building as he put his weapon away, still feeling the pain of his broken ribs.

**Emily's hotel room, Miami**

Emily was sleeping in the hotel room; she had gone to bed earlier than the others after they left the club. She was deep in her sleep when she heard her phone ring by the lamp on the nearby table; she fumbled around as she tried to reach the phone, her mind still half-asleep as she was trying to walk.

"Hello, this is Prentiss" She said, still groggy from the lingering sleep, before hearing another woman's voice on the other side of the phone conversation say "Hello Mrs. Prentiss this is Nurse Sullivan at the Tuttle hospital; a Sean Pierce checked himself in an hour ago to receive treatments for three broken ribs and your listed as an emergency contact."

Whatever part of Emily was still asleep woke up instantly when she heard the words Sean and hospital and she asks as she puts on her shoes and retrieves her wallet and other belongings "I'm on my way right, but what room number is he in now?"

"Room 33 on the second floor." The nurse before Emily thanked her and disconnected her phone before leaving her room.


	4. Hello Brother

**Chapter 4: Hello Brother**

**Tuttle Hospital, Miami **

Emily was forced to walk through the Miami streets looking for the hospital, wasting a few minutes of time before finally reaching it. She could not call Garcia for help, she had a feeling that if she did that Hotchner would show up and she did not want to imagine what would happen if the two of them were in the same room.

After arriving she had to search and wonder through the hospital second floor before finally finding room thirty-three on the very end of the hall. The building was mostly empty with the exception only a few patients that were out and the nurses. She hated being inside the place she was in, it brought back some of the more indelible memories from the few times she was brought in for injuries she received on the job, the most recurring memory being from when Doyle nearly killed her.

She was however still surprised when she learned that Sean still had her listed as his emergency contact if he was ever injured, she imagined in the ten years since she last saw him that he would have found someone else to receive a call like this one.

When she entered the room she could hear him starting to speak after the door made a squeak sound, announcing her intrusion into the room "I'll tell you like I told that last nurse who came in; I already took the damn medication already, so screw off. Unless you my friend then go away and don't bother me."

Emily could tell by his "cheery" disposition to her arrival, but not seeing who she was, that the nurses him had been annoying him since he arrived and she says "Well nice to see you too Sean."

Sean turns around in the hospital bed, suddenly realizing his error as he say "Emily, oh sorry, I thought you were another one of those idiot nurses I've had to put up with."

Emily took a look at Sean's body, he had bandages wrapped on the lower part of his ribs, but the injuries that caught her attention the most were the scars on his lower abdomen as well as various other scars that seemed to have faded some. Aside from the scars on him, the only other blemish to be seen was a "birds of a feather" tattoo on the front of his left shoulder with eight birds on the left side of his chest flying away from the feather.

As Emily looks around the room she watches him lay back in the bed and she asks "What happened to you Sean, you look like you've been in a cage fight?"

"Yeah thanks for noticing." He said sarcastically as he lay in the bed, still feeling sore, before replying "I'm not entirely sure, after I left the Neon I was on my way home to get those files ready for tomorrow and the next thing I know I'm getting hit with a tranquilizer dart to the neck and a beating to the ribs."

"Was that all that happened?" Emily asked, still horrified as she was staring at the scars on Sean's body, before he replies "No, not all of it. They wanted a file they thought Oliver gave me on the Archangels, but I don't know why they thought I would have one."

"Is there a file on the Archangels?" Emily asked.

"No, not that I know of; Oliver never mentioned anything like that when he got to town." Sean replied.

"What about the men who kidnapped you?" Emily asked; giving one question after another complied onto a million more questions.

Sean then replies, showing some anger in his expression "Yeah, I recognized them; a mercenary thug group they call the three demons. They were popular back in 2006 for various kidnappings and torture for information; they were considered high grade killer bogymen. Beyond that they've been in the dark since then, last I heard they were in Mexico or near the Mexican border."

"Who do you think hired them?" Emily asked and then he replies with a shrug of his shoulders "I don't know, probably the same guy who hired Keller to kill Oliver and Chloe."

Sean had the look of despair on his face as he was lying down in the hospital bed; Emily had seen him like this before when he was depressed. She could tell he wanted to leave the room more than anything; Sean hated hospitals more than most people would.

Suddenly Emily hears her phone begin to ring as Sean starts to force himself up in the bed and he says sarcastically "Oh no go, not like I'm going anywhere."

"Prentiss," Emily said, taking a few steps away so Sean could not listen in on her conversation, it was the voice Garcia she soon heard on the other end of the phone call as she says "Emily, I got a call from Hotchner and the Miami police; there's been a triple murder."

"What does this have to do with the murder we're investigating?" Emily asked, have some suspicion that they were investigation the men who kidnapped Sean, and soon her suspicion was validated as Garcia says "The three men were known thugs for hire and one of them was shot to death with a gun that is registered to Pierce."

"Okay Garcia, can I call you back real quick?" Emily asked before Garcia replies "Sure thing; is something wrong?" to which Emily says "It's nothing I just need to talk to someone real quick." And then she hangs up on the phone call before turning back to face Sean who was putting on his shirt and preparing to leave the hospital when she stopped him in his tracks saying "Hold on Sean, I still have another question for you."

"What is it Emily?" Sean asked as he begins to put on his jacket.

"When I got to Miami I was told you arrived here five years ago, what happed in the five years before that?" Emily asked, watching as Sean stared blankly at her; the expression on his face was cold as he searched for the right words to say, hesitating when his mouth opened then finally he said "I went looking for some answers about what happened to me during those two months and ten days that I was missing, eventually I found some after the first year and had to spend the next year in a maximum security prison, after that I just drifted around for the next three."

"What did you find out?" Emily asked and Sean replied "During those two months I was tortured for information both physically and mentally. They cut me up with a blade, they pumped their special little drugs in my system that nearly caused me to go insane from hallucination combined with the high, and they even beat me senseless until I became numb to the pain. After that it just stopped one day and somehow I escaped."

When Sean recounted most of the details of what happened to him Emily thought she would see the expression of a man with PTSD, but his face was devoid of emotion; like he remembers it as if he had watched it happen to someone else.

"Sean how does it not bother you to talk about this, I've seen people who have gone through stuff like that; they were nowhere near as calm as you are now." Emily said as Sean remained unfazed before responding by saying "I don't to be honest; that drugs they injected me with repressed the memory of it and afterwards when I regained the memory of it, it just didn't bother me. I had spent months imagining what happened to me; and when I did finally find out, it just seemed so meaningless."

"What kind of drug was it?" Emily asked, and then Sean was hesitant for a second as his eyes moved around, before he finally "I'm not sure really, I remember they shot me up with it every day, but to be honest, Emily, the closest thing I ever got to the name of it was a passing guard called it Vertigo, on account of the way you eyes move around the first five seconds before the high kicks in. All I remember aside from that was not having much of a care after they put it in me. And Emily I mean this stuff really messes with your head, for a brief second every problem I ever had was gone; I didn't care about being a prisoner, I no longer care that I was a bastard, I just felt so at peace, and then the beatings started and I was in for a long hell of a ride after that."

Emily suddenly remembered how she had to go and asks "Sean where are you going now?"

Sean replied, still feeling the soreness of his ribs "Home, I'm pretty sure the guys who grabbed me went through my loft after they did; I figure I'll go that first, then get some sleep, cause I am tired as can be right now."

Emily then remembered the files that he said he had for her and the team to read, she knew that if she told Hotchner and the others about this they would want to know if he still had the files on him, and she asks him "Sean, those files you have; do you think that the men who attacked you were able to get them?"

"I highly doubt it, Emily." Sean said before continuing on "I hid those files on a disc that I keep in a place no one would ever think to look."

"Where would that be?" Emily asked, and then Sean remained hesitant to answer at first; he had spent the past ten years never being able to trust anyone other than himself and a few of the people here in Miami, his boss Diamond and his coworker Cole to name a few, so his trust was not the most easily given thing to receive. Sean thought for a second about; his trust for the BAU was not a strong one, being not to shy of deep hatred, but he did trust Emily, she was the one person left from his old life that he believed he could still trust.

Finally he says "It's in a small hidden compartment in my room under the floor, you can only find it if you know where it is."

"You hid it under your floor?" Emily asked, in a humorous confusion before he replied "What? I was all I could think of at the time, and it's worked out for me so far….look whenever you're done with whatever it is your about to do; just come to my loft and I'll have it ready for you by then."

Emily agreed and he said goodbye to her as he left the hospital room.

**Abandoned building, Miami**

After separating from Sean at the hospital, Emily had to call Garcia back to ask for directions to meet up with the rest of the team at the murder scene they were investigating and examining to get inside the mind of the killer.

As she was on her way to the scene she continued to think of Sean, how he had those scars on his body, the things he mentioned in their conversation; such as how he was in a maximum security prison and was drugged ten years ago. She could tell by the look in his eye back there that he was not making this up, why would he? The thoughts that buzzed around in her heard were also the possibilities of what could have happened to him back then.

The images her head was creating as she walked were haunting, she did not even know she could imagine up something like them as her mind drew pictures of knives tearing into skin and bone as a man screams in pain from the blade in his flesh.

Finally she arrived to where the rest of the team was already waiting for her with police officers and detectives on the scene with them.

"Hey Emily," J.J. said, greeting her friend as she arrived fresh on the scene, but still devoid of a good night's rest. Her glee to see her friend was short lived, as J.J. began to take a notice to the look of intense concern on her face as she walked up to them. It was a cause for a concern in J.J. and she asks "What's wrong Emily, you look like you just saw a ghost?"

Emily then started to try and does everything in her power to make the expression on his face vanish into oblivion, she was sure that she did not want to talk to anyone about what she just heard so soon and she sure as hell did not want to give the team any reason to doubt her loyalty or give them anything they could use to make Sean think she sold him out.

She was still not sure to make of the situation, she trusted the team as much as they trusted her, but she also trusted Sean and did not want this to end up badly for anyone; so she decided to be quiet on the subject until she was absolutely sure. She did plan to tell eventually, just not now.

"Yeah I'm fine J.J. I just haven't gotten that much sleep is all." Emily said as she tried to cover her expression away, and then she tried to change the subject as she looks at the scene they were all at, asking her friend "What's going on?"

Then J.J. directs her friends to the bodies, but still having the impression that something was up.

**Sean's Loft, Miami**

Sean returned to his loft minutes after leaving the hospital Tuttle hospital, he was in a hurry to return home to see the extent of the damage done to his place after he was kidnapped. The three demons were infamous for making a mess of nice places to find what they want. The concern for his files was not the last thing from his mind, but he was more concerned with the degree his room could be ransacked.

Upon arriving at his home Sean immediately took notice to his door that was open with a small crack, giving him the implication that someone had recently opened it and planned on leaving later; he then pulls out his 1911 and raises it as he slowly opens the door.

Finding his stuff thrown around the room of the loft, there had definitely been a ransacking of his room after he was kidnapped, then as he looks through the rooms he finds one room with an occupant; he was startled at first as he quickly tried to aim his weapon and as he did this the man in the room with him raised a weapon of his own.

As Sean was staring down the barrel of a Browning Hi-Power and he in turn aimed his weapon at the man in return before taking a closer look at the man's face. He instantly recognized him as the man said to him "Hello, brother."

Sean then replied "Hello Keller."


	5. The Call

**Chapter 5: The Call**

**Sean's Loft, Miami**

Sean was tense as he had his weapon jammed in Keller's face, and Keller with his weapon jammed in Sean's face. Both steadying their aim; the only difference was that Sean had his weapon aimed for Keller's forehead and he had no problem with killing Keller for what he did to Oliver and Chloe, while Keller had his weapon aimed to where it would graze the side of his face.

The weapon in Keller's hand, it was a different kind from the one he normally used. His normal weapon was not always a Browning, but rather a custom 92S with a compensator attached to the end of the barrel.

Clay Keller was about two years older than Sean; he was medium built like him too. Keller had the same eye color as Sean, but different hair; Sean's was blond while Keller's was a brushed-back dark brown. Another difference was that Sean had the tone of a man who grew up in the city, while Clay sounded like he was raised in the country.

They both wore denim jackets; Sean wore black, and Clay wore green.

Clay was not smug as he held the weapon to Sean's face; some might say he was actually happy to see his little brother after so long, well more like his younger half-brother. Sean did not give the same expression on his face; he hated Keller for killing Oliver, for killing the parents of his godson.

As the two were in this semi-Mexican standoff Clay examined the room of the loft they were in and says "Nice place by the way, it's very Michael Westen."

"What the hell are you doing in my home?" Sean replied to him.

There was a long moment of silence between the two before Clay finally broke it "Now is this really anyway to treat your older brother Sean. I mean, I help you, and that other guy break out of the maximum security prison you were in and this is how you welcome me."

"You are not my family Keller; we may share a father, but that does not make you my family." Sean said for his riposte to the sniper, he always resented being the half-sibling to a lot of people, and Keller definitely made the top of that long list of people.

"Why is it that you hate being my brother, we are family after all?" Clay asked, showing some hurt to his brother's hostile nature towards him, before Sean replies "Blood alone doesn't make you my family. Family is the people who give a damn whether you're alive every day."

Sean then continued by saying "You watched them tortured me, you let the Archangels do all those things to me, you let them shoot me up with Vertigo, you killed my friends." The anger and outrage that he felt towards the man was clear as day in the expressions on his face "You're a monster who kills innocent people, who never did you wrong, for the highest bidder; you have no sense of morality, no honor."

Clay was unaffected by the words in Sean's insult, but it did appear to still hit a nerve. He then gives a quick calm and vicious riposte "Who are you to judge me? You are a literal bastard, who never knew our father; your mother turned her back on you, your step-father beat and humiliated you without a second thought to it, and even your other half-siblings see you as nothing more than an inconvenient waste life that they wish they never knew."

After Clay finished his insults Sean remained silent, the words tempting him to pull the trigger on his weapon "At least I can go home with a clear conscience."

Sean then sees Clay's weapon staggers away from his face during the conversation between the two, he considered waiting for the chance to take the weapon from him, but then Clay begins to talk, distracting Sean away from the weapon "Well nice to see your girlfriend dying didn't change your personality that much, what was her name, Catherine?; anyway just give me the files you were going to give that FBI agent and I'll be on my way."

How dare he? Sean thought to himself in the moment. The mere mention of Catherine's name stirred emotions inside Sean, anger, rage, despair, sadness, grief; all showed on his face as he stared at Keller. He cursed himself for being in the situation he was in, he cursed Keller, but most of all he cursed himself for getting himself into this mess.

He wished there had been a way out of this, but the die has been cast and there was no going back now,

Before he realized what he was doing, Sean tackled Keller after knocking the Browning out of his hand, still feeling the sourness of his ribs, and then he viciously beat him against the walls before knocking him onto the ground with his gun up to his chest. The rage that he felt had the most control of him now, as he began to speak "How dare you say her name!"

Clay lost his gun in the struggle and was at the mercy of his hostile younger brother.

In the heat of the moment, as Sean could feel nothing but anger and hate for his older brother, and he wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger and finally be rid of him for good. To finally have some closure after years of chasing his kind, but then he thought, death would be too quick for him. He wanted Keller to suffer for letting them torture him like they did, but then he thought that there was the possibility he could escape.

As the thoughts of his inner thoughts raised through his mind, Clay looked up at his confused younger sibling and took advantage of his conflict and manages to knock him off of him and kicks him back, causing him to drop his weapon.

Sean scampers for his weapon after hitting the ground, not wanting to give Keller any extra-time to retrieve his weapon. He soon grabs his weapons and swirls around with his gun ready, seeing that Clay already had his weapon and was making a break for it. He fired two shots at him, one hitting the wall and the other hitting its target on the back of his shoulder.

Then Sean chased Clay out the door, firing three more shots, but by the time he was outside Clay was too far away and only one of his shots managed to graze him. He then lowers his weapon and begins to slowly walk back inside, feeling even more tired and exhausted then he was before.

**Behavioral Analysis Unit Headquarter, Virginia **

Section Chief Erin Strauss was exhausted, to say the least, her job having her working at the office all hours of the day. She was not always given the best of sleep at night, but this for her was even more than what she was used to.

She had already returned home when she received a call from work, her assistant was telling her, no more like raving at her, that someone named Gabriel Crane was trying to call her. Saying the call was of great urgency.

Garcia had been keeping Strauss updated on the Team's case in Miami, after hear from her former colleague Blake that Sean Pierce was part of a case involving a former member of the Archangel terrorist organization, she was able to take a guess as to what the call was about.

Not putting much time into her personal appearance, Erin just arrived at the office an hour after receiving the call. She found her way to her Section Chief office where her assistant told Straus that "Mr. Crane" was on line two.

"This is Section Chief Strauss," she said into the phone, introducing herself to the man so he would know it was her. Though she suspected he would already know enough about her now to recognize her voice.

The voice on the other end gave the impression that who she was speaking to was not someone in here line of work. "Hello Chief Strauss; my name is Crane, Gabriel Crane."

Crane's voice was not hard to make out; he had to be someone from a northern state; possibly from the New York country.

Strauss had heard the name Gabriel Crane a few times in reports from the Archangel investigation back in 2003. He was like Sean; both are the sole survivors of their teams who looked into the Archangels, and both have a fierce reputation for being reckless and insubordinate when the situation calls for it.

She had also heard of him being a member of Checkmate, a Taskforce comprised of the FBI, CIA, DEA and various other branches of law enforcement agencies that deal with bringing in surviving former members of the Archangels and those who work with them.

"Is there a reason I'm receiving a call from a Checkmate Taskforce agent in the middle of the night?" Strauss asked; she has come to learn from her past dealings with Checkmate, that they respond better to more direct confrontation and questioning.

"I've been made aware that your team is in Miami, helping the Major Crimes Task Force investigate a Deadshot case."Crane went straight forward to his interests in the case.

Strauss was quick to reply back to the Agents curiosity "Yes, Agent Hotchner and his team are working in Miami now. They've made some progress in the investigation, if I'm not mistaken."

She may not always agree with the team members, but she trusted them to do their jobs and she in turn would do the same on her end of the job. And she was more than willing to stand up to the Checkmate task force if she needed to.

"Yes, well for the past few months my superiors have been interested in bring on a team of profilers to our task force to aid with the investigation from time-to-time and I was directed to believe that yours would be the best option."

The agent on the other end of the call was moderate in his speech; talking at a pace that was easy to follow.

Strauss was surprised to hear that Checkmate wanted her team for the profilers to assist them on their investigations into the Archangel survivors; she knew that the team she works with was proficient in their work, but nothing to indicate that they were considered one of the best.

"I'm assuming you have a liaison of sorts for this? MY team cannot just be ordered to move from one place to another at your say-so."

Strauss could have guessed already who Crane had in mind for the Liaison position, Sean Pierce would have been the most likely, and her guess was proven to be spot on the mark. "Yes, I would like for your team to offer a position down there as the liaison between the BAU and Checkmate, if he declines than we can find someone else."

"And why do you want him to be your liaison?" Strauss asks in her retort. Crane was quick and clear about his reason afterwards "Aside from myself; he's the only one left who has personal experience with the Archangels and he knows more about the Archangels than anyone else alive who was not one of them."

Strauss had a hard time arguing with the logic, plus she knew that Sean was more than capable of being a fine FBI agent once more. "Alright, I'll call Hotchner after we're done and I'll give him the heads up."

"Thank you Strauss, I'm sure this arrangement will benefit us both in the near future."

With that the phone call was over and she begins to dial Hotchner's number, though she doubted that he would be happy with the arrangement

**Abandoned building, Miami**

Emily was walking through the building with J.J. as her friend brought her up to speed. "We found only three dead bodies, so far. By the looks of things there were only one other person in the room with these three, a prisoner; judging by the restraints and broken chair."

"One person took on these three men by themselves?" Emily said, as she tried to keep up the illusion that she had any previous knowledge as to what happened here.

She was trying her hardest to hides this, but J.J. had her suspicions; after everything that happened with Ian Doyle she had made more efforts into learning how to recognize when Emily was keeping secrets from her and the Team.

J.J. did not know what she was holding back, but she could see the look of someone holding a secret inside.

Looking at the bodies Emily saw that one had been stabbed with a piece of a chair leg that had been broke off. The other one beside him looked like he was killed by someone with an automatic weapon, the third man she saw on her way in, he had been killed with a shot to the head with various other shots in his body.

J.J wanted to have an answer now and decides to go for the direct approach while speaking in a low tone "Okay Emily what is going on with you? You've been acting funny since you got here?"

Emily could see that J.J. knew something was up and she knew that her friend was not going to stop until she was given some straight answers. She had become better in recognizing when something was wrong with her.

"Before Garcia called me to come down here I was called from my hotel room, it was from a nearby hospital." She responds in a low tone herself. J.J. was giving a concerned and worried "what have you done" kind of look to her as she spoke "When I finally got there I found Sean in a hospital bed with three broken ribs, he said three men kidnapped him after he left the Neon."

J.J. took a look at the bodies in disbelief and back to her "He killed these three?"

"More like self-defense."

Judging by the expression of kosher belief on her face, J.J. could see that Emily truly believed that Pierce did not mean for this to happen like it did. Her conviction to believe him was strong, and she would have fought with her friend about this; even if it would last through the night and give her even more trouble.

Looking over, Emily could see Hotchner, looking over one of the bodies. He and Alex were looking at a piece of paper that had been taken off the body. They were both puzzled as they stared at it oddly, having a look of confusion as to what it was.

Suddenly Aaron's pocket began to steer, as if something in his pocket came to life, and then began to move. He puts his hand into his pocket as he hands Alex the piece of paper and is then seen beginning to slide unlock his cell-phone. He then begins backs away from the body.

As he was looking at the phone he had an expression of anguish and irritation on his face.

He had clearly been depriving been depriving been depriving himself of sleep, as he was more than likely looking for other suspects and evidence.

Seeing Sean again after ten years brought back a whole messy collection of memories from his life. First of how he and Sean first met: when they were closer to friends, then to how all the agents they worked with on the case were killed in a matter of days: because he was not able to do his job to the best of his ability, and then finally how he ruined Sean's life and his career as a FBI agent.

Strauss' name was on the caller ID.

It was not unusual for her to call for updates on the case, even with Garcia keeping her up to speed back in Quantico. But for her to call this late an hour was definitely a cause for confusion.

Emily watches as Aaron backs away from the body, and then looks over to Alex; as she brings the piece of paper to Reid. The two were mumbling to themselves, having different suggestions as to what it could have been.

There was little time before Emily walks over to join them; J.J. had little time to ask for more information. Soon Emily could see what was on the piece of paper that had them look at it so oddly; the letters written on the paper were not part of any real sentence of the English language.

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Spencer found the letters of the paper to be fascinating, as he was thinking of ways this could be understood. The letters looked like the parts of cipher, a Caesar cipher to be more exact. He asked to see the paper and was given it.

First he wrote the alphabet from A-to-Z on a second piece of paper and then would skip a number of letters and then when he reached the end he would write the last letters in the empty spaces before looking at the letters on the note to see if he could find a match, it only took him three tries to get it right; and then he had the real message written down.

_Charon, Kidnap, Torture, Retrieve Information, Execute, Return to Fyers_

The message on the paper still made no sense to Emily. Spencer was able to recognize the name Charon just a bit more than she, remember it being the name of a figure in Greek mythology that would carry the souls of the dead to the other side, but he knew nothing of the second name, Fyers. For Alex it was something else, as she recognized Charon not just as a name or a word but Sean's callsign when he was undercover in the Archangels.

"Charon, Fyers?" J.J. said as she joined the others in looking at the letter. Her confusion to what she was looking at was an equal to Spencer and Emily's confused expression. Alex was the only one without a confused expression on her face, and as such was the first to say anything "I think I know who this is talking about."

"Who?" The three profilers asked.

Alex then replies "Back when Pierce was investigating the archangels, he and the other agents he worked with while undercover gave each other a call sign so they would know that everyone was who they said they were. Pierce was given the name Charon as his callsign."

"So what, these three kidnap Pierce and he winds up killing them?" Derek asked, as he had been listening to the four.

Emily could practically feel the stress of the incoming inquisition that was about to come down on her, knowing that everyone in the room, that did not include J.J., was going to be asking her questions left and right.

"How can you possibly even consider that?" Hotchner could be heard talking into his phone, he sounded disgusted as he spoke; trying to repel a suggestion given to him over the phone "Why on earth would I even agree with this?"

Rossi walks over and asks him what is wrong, the others could not hear what he said back to Rossi but he was definitely not happy about it. Then after they notice the team watching them he says "We need to go pay Mr. Pierce a visit."

"Why?" Emily asked. Then Rossi says "Well Hotchner needs to speak with him about something, and I just got off the phone with Garcia. A few minutes ago a city camera caught a glimpse of Keller's face near the city-limit. Before this the police received a shots fired call near Pierce's loft."

Morgan became suspicious as to why the sniper would go after Sean and asks "You think he scared Keller off?"

Hotchner then says "We don't know," he was definitely not wanting to tell the team what he had on his mind "For now all we need to do is for three of us go visit Pierce whiles the rest say to work on the crime scene."

Three of us, Emily thought to herself. She wondered why he wanted only so many to go, and then she wondered who would be going and who would be staying.

"Morgan and Prentiss you go with Rossi, visit with Pierce. I'll stay here with J.J. and Spencer to help with the scene. After you're done, you can return to your rooms and sleep for the night. Then pack up and prepare to leave in the morning."

Morgan was less than pleased to hear this new development "Why are we leaving?"

"With Keller out of the city we have to assume, based on his previous record that he will not be returning any time. So we can only wait until his next sighting and hope we can catch him then."

Hotchner did not bother to argue with Morgan on this, he only told him that he "did not like it any more than he did."


	6. The Offer

**Chapter 6: The Offer**

**Sean's Loft, Miami**

Emily, Rossi, and Morgan arrived at Sean's loft, only a few minutes after they left the crime scene.

Morgan was still enraged that they were leaving Miami in the morning, something he made clear for most of the drive.

The bullet holes that they found near the loft were hard not to miss, as was the door to the loft being wide open. Emily went in through the open doorway without thinking, as she was not thinking at the time and could only think of what might have happened to Sean since she last saw him.

Rossi and Morgan both follow behind her inside.

Inside Emily found her fears to be unfounded as Sean was inside; he was exhausted and still fixing up his home, but alive and well. Emily looked around the room, and seeing the evidence of the struggle that took place in the room she was given a good idea of what happened here.

Most of the few things he had in the room were already put back up, including a few paintings that Sean had leaning against the wall.

"Emily, nice to see you finally show up." He said. Sean was more than glad to see Emily so soon, but the feeling was not the same when he saw Rossi and Morgan with her. He immediately had a look of resentment as he saw them.

Sean was not always a cold individual, Emily knew him before he was like this. Back when he was a more warm-hearted individual. He had some level of emotional distance from others, but the two were able to have a close bond that allowed them to become close friends. Now he was worse than he was before, his intolerance to those he did not trust was at a higher altitude that he did not trust or want to be in the presence of any FBI or law enforcement.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Sean said, his facial expression showing that he clearly did not want them to be here. Sean has never met Rossi or Morgan before in his life, but he had seen them early in the night, at the Neon. It did not take him long to figure out they were FBI, and he more than anything hates the FBI.

"Easy Sean, I came with them." Emily said. She could see his hostility towards them; it practically screamed impulse away from committing violent act. "We heard that there were shots fired near your loft and we thought something could have happened to you."

"Well great, that explains why you're here." Sean made it clear that he knew why Emily was here, he knew her a lot better than she thought, and then he looks to the two agents who came with here and again asks "What are they doing here?"

Morgan could see his weapon was right next to him and was tempted to reach for his weapon, not wanting to give him a chance to draw his. Sean sees this and says "Go ahead, try to pull it up. I'll just take the gun from you and make you eat the bullets one-at-a-time."

Sean was good at giving a valid threat; Morgan believed that he believed he could do it. The look in his eyes was the look of insanity, the kind that could only be found in a man with nothing left to lose. Then he backs off, walking away from the weapon.

He had a small box on the desk that held his TV, he opened it. Inside were various pictures, two wedding bands, and finally a small flash drive. Pulling the flash drive out, he looks over to the two who came in with Emily and he holds it up for them to see "I'm assuming this is what you're here for."

"Sort of," Rossi said. Emily thought that was the reason they were at the loft, but then she thought of what she heard Hotchner saying into his cell-phone and thought that maybe it had something to do with why they were here.

Tossing the flash drive to Rossi, Sean then says "Whatever else it is you've got so say, say quick." Closing the box back up Sean listens as Rossi asks "Have you ever heard of a group called Checkmate?"

Sean had his eyes wide open as he looked at Rossi, and then he goes back to the box "Yeah, I know them. It's a taskforce that was made after Hotchner screwed the pooch on the Archangel case ten years ago; their main job is to look into any possible leads of former Archangel Members. Beyond that they deal with Cartel movement in the US and some of the crime families."

Rossi found his knowledge of the group to be very short-handed, as if he was giving them the quick version. Sean looked like he was less than concerned as to why he was being asked about the Taskforce and simply closes the box before asking "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because a few minutes ago Hotchner received a call back from our section chief in Quantico, we have been asked by a member of the Taskforce, Crane, to offer you a position as a liaison between us and Checkmate."

"Why would you even want to give me that offer?" Sean said cynically. His low opinion of Rossi and Morgan he made clear without hesitation.

Emily this time speaks up "Deadshot has already left town, Sean. I would think you of all people would want a hand in the arrest of the man who killed your best friend."

Her words cut deep in Sean's stubborn grudge against the FBI. He felt ashamed for a second, and then he asks "What is it you want me to do?"

Rossi then replies "All we need you to come to Quantico; we can have a place set up for you to live in. All you need to do is pack up your things and come in for us to show you to your desk."

Sean was less than optimistic about the idea of working with the BAU, then he looks over to Emily and they exchange looks as he ponders his options and says "Fine, just give me a week. I'll have my things packed up by then."


End file.
